SVG denies Whincup 100th Supercars win

Shane van Gisbergen denied team-mate Jamie Whincup a 100th ATCC/Supercars win in a thrilling Race 16 at Ipswich.

On fresher tyres, the Kiwi overtook Craig Lowndes and Whincup in the final four laps to lead home a one-two-three for Triple Eight.

Prodrive duo Mark Winterbottom and Chaz Mostert trailed the trio home in fourth and fifth respectively.

Starting third, Whincup had made the most of a spirited battle between front-row starting Prodrive team-mates Chris Pither and Mostert on the opening lap.

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Mostert was elbowed wide by Pither while on the outside of Turn 2, allowing Whincup down the inside at the following corner

The six-time champion then hit the front with a clean inside move at Turn 4, taking control of the race.

Lowndes also made short work of the battling Falcons to latch onto the back of Whincup, stalking his team-mate for the duration.

Lowndes pitted on lap seven to try and undercut Whincup, but found himself again staring at the back of the Red Bull entry when Whincup pitted and rejoined a lap later.

The Caltex backed driver turned up the pressure in the second stint as Whincup tried to save fuel in order to make the flag.

Van Gisbergen had meanwhile run a nine lap longer first stint than Whincup, passing Mostert for third before eventually taking his second set of tyres.

Facing a six second gap to the leaders when he returned to the track, Van Gisbergen charged, eventually taking Lowndes and then Whincup on laps 35 and 37 respectively.

“I was surprised the other guys pitted as early as they did but they were racing each other,” smiled Van Gisbergen after his third win in four races.

“We went for the time trial option and had good tyres at the end. I’m so stoked.”

Whincup was left to lament a lack of speed compared to his two team-mates.

“We put ourselves in the best position but to win races you have to have car pace and we just didn’t have enough today,” he said.

Tim Slade was the last of all to stop on lap 24 and managed to convert ninth on the grid into sixth at the flag.

Will Davison took seventh from Rick Kelly, James Moffat, Fabian Coulthard and pole-sitter Pither.

Coulthard battled for sixth with Michael Caruso in the early going before tipping the Nissan off the track at Turn 5.

The DJR Team Penske driver was subsequently ordered to slow to readdress the indiscretion, dropping to 12th in the process.

Team-mate Scott Pye started from the pitlane in his repaired Ford and eventually came home 21st.

The race was shortened by a lap after an aborted start called after Cameron Waters’ Falcon broke its driveline on the first formation lap.

Result: Virgin Australia Supercars Championship Coates Hire Ipswich Super Sprint Race 16

1	Red Bull Racing Australia	Shane Van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore VF	38	45:59.3567
2	Red Bull Racing Australia	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore VF	38	46:00.1785
3	TeamVortex	Craig Lowndes	Holden Commodore VF	38	46:00.4458
4	The Bottle-O Racing Team	Mark Winterbottom	Ford Falcon FG/X	38	46:00.6899
5	Supercheap Auto Racing	Chaz Mostert	Ford Falcon FG/X	38	46:01.1915
6	Freightliner Racing	Tim Slade	Holden Commodore VF	38	46:06.6239
7	Team Darrell Lea STIX	Will Davison	Holden Commodore VF	38	46:24.7308
8	Sengled Motorsport	Rick Kelly	Nissan Altima	38	46:25.8621
9	Wilson Security Racing GRM	James Moffat	Volvo S60	38	46:26.6231
10	DJR Team Penske	Fabian Coulthard	Ford Falcon FG/X	38	46:26.8544
11	Super Black Racing	Chris Pither	Ford Falcon FG/X	38	46:27.2780
12	carsales Racing	Todd Kelly	Nissan Altima	38	46:27.5495
13	Holden Racing Team	James Courtney	Holden Commodore VF	38	46:29.7022
14	Holden Racing Team	Garth Tander	Holden Commodore VF	38	46:31.4370
15	Wilson Security Racing GRM	Scott McLaughlin	Volvo S60	38	46:31.8951
16	Team BOC	Jason Bright	Holden Commodore VF	38	46:32.4118
17	GB Galvanizing Racing	Dale Wood	Nissan Altima	38	46:33.0953
18	Team Cooldrive	Tim Blanchard	Holden Commodore VF	38	46:34.1687
19	LD Motorsport	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore VF	38	46:34.4208
20	LD Motorsport	Andre Heimgartner	Holden Commodore VF	38	46:34.6426
21	DJR Team Penske	Scott Pye	Ford Falcon FG/X	38	46:38.0045
22	Erebus Motorsport Penrite	David Reynolds	Holden Commodore VF	38	46:41.7594
23	Nissan Motorsport	Michael Caruso	Nissan Altima	38	46:42.1458
24	Preston Hire Racing	Kurt Kostecki	Holden Commodore VF	38	46:48.3752
25	Erebus Motorsport Hungry Jacks	Craig Baird	Holden Commodore VF	38	46:51.6776
DNF	Monster Energy Racing	Cameron Waters	Ford Falcon FG/X	4	18:49.0840

Championship Standings

1	Jamie Whincup	1683
2	Shane Van Gisbergen	1642
3	Mark Winterbottom	1590
4	Craig Lowndes	1521
5	Scott McLaughlin	1434
6	Will Davison	1431
7	Tim Slade	1257
8	Michael Caruso	1245
9	James Courtney	1215
10	Chaz Mostert	1157
11	Rick Kelly	1122
12	Garth Tander	1111
13	Todd Kelly	1048
14	Fabian Coulthard	1024
15	Jason Bright	999
16	Scott Pye	964
17	David Reynolds	949
18	Cameron Waters	844
19	James Moffat	810
20	Chris Pither	706
21	Dale Wood	676
22	Tim Blanchard	659
23	Lee Holdsworth	648
24	Nick Percat	639
25	Andre Heimgartner	569
26	Aaren Russell	465
27	Kurt Kostecki	63
28	Craig Baird	30